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This recipe takes your classic Wedge Salad and makes them handheld so they’re so easy to eat AND gorgeous! Just look at them 👀! These mini wedges salads also have simple ingredients – romaine lettuce, blue cheese dressing (you can swap for ranch), bacon, plus almost all of the work can be prepped ahead so they’re the best for company and they’re always a hit.
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love Handheld Wedge Salad
Fun, modern, delicious and ridiculously easy to eat. A wedge salad is always a really cool statement piece but a lot of the time people don’t know how to eat it and you have to get your knife and forks out, not with these guys. They’re great starter salads or appetizers. The blue cheese dressing is one that I perfected over years in the restaurant business so you’re really in for a treat if you like blue cheese with this dressing.
How To Prepare
Prep your Ingredients 🥬
For these Handheld Wedge Salad, we’re going to start by making your bacon. In a skillet or the oven, cook until very crispy and chop super small, set aside. Remove outer leaves of your mini romaine. Then you are going to submerge each piece in cold water and gently swish it back and forth to loosen any dirt. If you have a salad spinner, gently spin it, if not, dry with paper towels or clean dish towels. Cut each mini heads in half lengthwise. Make sure you leave the stem in tack so it doesn’t fall apart. If you are prepping ahead, wait to wash and cut the lettuce till shortly before serving to keep it crisp.
Make your Dijon Vinaigrette 🥣
Now it’s time to make the most amazing blue dressing. In a food processor, add mayo, créme fraîche, a squeeze of lemon, white pepper, blue cheese and chives. Start with 1 tbsp of half and half and process until very smooth. Add more half and half if you want it smoother and more lemon to taste. Store everything in an airtight container in the fridge until ready to serve.
Serve 🍽️
When you are ready to serve these gorgeous Handheld Wedge Salads, drizzle the cut side of your romaine with the blue cheese dressing and add a bit of balsamic glaze. Top with bacon bits, tomatoes, chives, parsley, black pepper and more blue cheese. So simple, so elegant and absolutely delicious!
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🔥Chef Nadia’s Tip🔥
- The tip is getting everything chopped super small so you get a bit of everything in each bite.
- Make sure you dry your romaine lettuce heads thoroughly before adding the dressing to make the salads. You can let the heads sit face side down for a bit to make sure the water comes out. This will help the dressing stick better and make sure it doesn’t water down the taste.
Substitutions and Variations
- Substitutions
- Romaine Heads → If you can’t find the romaine heads, you can use little butter lettuce wedges or even iceberg cut in fourths and be super careful instead. If you go this route you won’t be able to pick up and hold them like the Sesame Handheld Salads, but they will still be adorable wedge salads and delicious.
- Japanese Mayo → You can use regular mayo instead of Japanese mayo if you would like.
- Blue Cheese Crumbles → If you like blue cheese dressing but the blue cheese crumbles are a but too strong for you, you can swap it for feta, gorgonzola, goat cheese, or omit entirely for a milder version
- Créme Frîache → Sour cream or Greek yogurt (for a tangier or lighter feel)
- Variations
- Pick-Your-Own-Dressing Variation: These salad toppings go great with any dressing so have fun with it!
- Grilled Variation: Pop the head of lettuce on the grill or under the broiler for a minute before adding the dressing to add a delicious smokey char.
- Vegetarian Variation: Swap out that bacon for shallots or sautéed mushrooms for a meat-free option!
The Perfect Pairings
🍸 Drink: Prickly Pear Cocktail – The sweet and botanical notes will be a refreshing compliment to these Sesame Handheld Salads.
🍽️ Main: Easy Chicken Piccata – This dish has a lemony, buttery profile that compliments the sesame maple tones.
🥔 Sides: Potato Galette and Stuffed Tomatoes – These both add a rich and savory element that goes really well with the fresh and tang of the dijon mustard dressing.
Drinks
Prickly Pear Cocktail
Mains
Easy Chicken Piccata
Mains
Potato Galette
Appetizers
Stuffed Tomato Recipe
Handheld Wedge Salad: Questions Answered
Yes! You can prep the bacon, dressing, and toppings ahead of time. Just keep the romaine lettuce dry and uncut until shortly before serving your salad to keep it crisp.
You can use ranch, caesar or even a simple vinaigrette and they will all go great with this recipe! That’s part of why these wedge salads are the best! They’re so easy and fool-proof!
Actually most of the ingredients are gluten-free. The ones to watch for are the Japanese mayo, dijon mustard and the balsamic glaze. Just pay attention to the labels when you’re buying them and make sure you are buying the gluten-free ones and you should be good to go!
Handheld Wedge Salad 🥬
Equipment
Ingredients
Blue Cheese Dressing
- ¼ cup Japanese mayo
- ¼ cup créme fraîche
- tiny squeeze of lemon, + more to taste
- ¼ tsp white pepper
- ⅓ cup blue cheese, grated
- 1 tsp dried chives
- ¼ tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- 1-2 tbsp half and half
Handheld Wedge Salad
- 5 mini romaine heads
- 3 slices bacon
- cherry tomatoes, diced, for topping
- black pepper, to taste, for topping
- balsamic glaze, to taste, for topping
- blue cheese, to taste, for topping
- parsley, fresh, chopped, for topping
- chives, fresh, chopped, for topping
Instructions
Blue Cheese Dressing
- In a food processor, add Japanese mayo, créme fraîche, a squeeze of lemon, white pepper, onion powder, dijon mustard, blue cheese and chives. Start by adding 1 tbsp of half-and-half and process until very smooth. Add more half and half if you want it smoother. Taste and add more lemon if you would like. Store covered in the fridge till ready to serve.
Handheld Wedge Salad
- In a skillet or the oven (whatever your preferred method is) crisp up the bacon well and chop super small.
- Remove outer leaves of your mini romaine lettuce. Wash and dry well.
- Cut off a bit of the ends and cut in half lengthwise. Make sure you leave the stem in tack so it doesn't fall apart.
- When you're ready to serve, drizzle the romaine with the dressing, add a bit of balsamic glaze, bacon, chopped tomatoes, fresh chives and parsley, black pepper and more blue cheese. Pick them up and enjoy!
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
